Kindred Souls
by The Mother Rose
Summary: Naruto has broken under the weight of the truth of his existence. Kakashi tries to bring him back to reality from which he has fled. This is their story.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. This is just a ramble that took on a life of it's own. I was trying to find something to write and this is what came out of my fingers. Hope you like it. Review with your thoughts and opinions. I know it's dark and shows Minato in a totally different light but I think this take on him does fit the events we know from canon occurred around the time of his death.**

**Kindred Souls**

**Naruto**

I sat on the roof of the apartment building I have lived in since I was five. Funny how the building still looks the same from the outside now, twelve years later, as it did then. Well almost. The only real difference I see is centered on my apartment itself. The building was run-down and shabby even back then but to my five year old eyes it looked like any palace I had ever heard the workers at the village home for orphans describe to the good children. Back then I was full of hope. Hope and dreams for a better future. But back then I didn't know the truth of my existence. I didn't know why I was hated. So like any kid, I made up reasons for it. I created what I thought were good reasons for people to turn away when I walked or ran by. I made up reasons why the rocks, accidently kicked by uncaring feet always flew in my direction. Why empty or broken Sake bottles never seemed to hit the trash cans I was sure they were aimed at. And I forgave the people who hurt me. I forgave them when their fists connected with my tender skin, turning my tanned skin black and blue or giving me black eyes that could never cover the fact that I was as blue eyed as it's possible to be. I forgave them when blood gave my yellow hair a bath in blood red.

But most of all I forgave them when they looked me in the eye and lied to me. When they smiled with their mouths but not their eyes. Truth was a snake in the grass they just couldn't have me see lest it bite me and break me. I called them my precious people and I truly believed they were. I truly believed they saw me and even though I knew they were lying to me I believed if I could just prove my worth they would see I could be trusted to know the truth. The truth. The one thing I can never remember a day not chasing after. The one thing that haunts my nights and fills my days with longing. The one thing I have to know and the only thing they will never tell me. Because even though I am paying the price of that truth, no one thinks I need to know what it is I am paying for. As if should I know, then I will refuse to pay anymore. How silly. It's not like I ever had that option and knowing or not knowing doesn't give me any options I don't already have.

Anyway back to the apartment building. I am the only person who lives here. In fact I am the only person who lives on the block the building is in. My door used to be green but that was a long time ago. Now it is dented and battered almost beyond recognition as a door. It barely opens or shuts anymore but then I don't need it to so it's no big loss. I use the non-existent windows to come or go from my apartment. Funny thing is from the outside of the building the apartment doesn't look any worse than any of the others on the block. Sure people can tell the windows are broken and the door's a mess but half the apartments don't even have doors anymore. But the inside of the place is another story. The inside is nothing but a wreck. I have a plank I use as a counter in what used to be a kitchen. The stove and refrigerator gave up the fight a long time ago. Too many battles with drunken mobs of angry villagers had proven the futility of continuing to work as they were designed to and they had given up. My light fixtures were torn from their moorings and left gaping holes showing wiring for power I did not have. I did have two sinks, one in the bathroom and another in the kitchen but neither had running water to them anymore. I hadn't had utilities since shortly before I turned thirteen when the old Hokage died in a battle against his former student. I brought water from the springs and harvested in the woods for foods I could eat that I would not need to cook first. I knew now why the villagers treated me the way they did. I knew it was a hatred that would never run dry. I knew they could not now, nor had they ever been able to see me. The person who wasn't really all that different than they were for all that I was a true blond unlike that ice blond and his snooty daughter or using a genjutsu to hide pretending I was a blond when really I was a woman with a paunch and dirty brown hair turning an unbecoming grey.

Well it was time to go. I had another mission to perform. I had no one going with me so there was no reason to stop at the gate where the guards would only pretend they couldn't see me anyway. I flew over it and into the trees on the far side and kept moving. One more attempt to bring Sasuke home. I knew I was not supposed to injure him any more than necessary in the process of accomplishing this task but I no longer cared. Once that boy had been central to my dreams of being recognized as a human being but he'd thrown me over to become the monster the people said I was. And they didn't see it. They refused to see their precious lost son that way. I met up with him three days later.

I rarely talked to anyone these days so when I spoke to him my voice was gruff with disuse and quiet as a whisper. "Uchiha Sasuke. I have orders to return you to the Leaf. I am to do so at any cost but they would prefer you home with as few injuries as possible. Will you come quietly?"

He sneered. "You never learn do you, Naruto? I am never returning to that place. I don't understand why you are still there. They treat you like shit. Hell they treat shit better than they do you but you still serve them and you want me to go back to be locked up and treated the same way?"

"No Sasuke. They will not treat you as they do me. I am the only monster they will ever see. You are their poor little orphan prince. You will have your every wish granted to you."

"My every wish? How will being there grant me my heart's desire to kill the man who murdered my clan?"

"I have orders to go capture him as soon as I return you to the village for the express purpose of allowing you the chance to kill him."

Sasuke snorted, shock holding him still for a minute and a half before he began to laugh loud and full throated. "They ordered you to bring me home and then go get my brother for me. He shook his head, tears that were not of sadness or glee raining from the corners of his eyes. "Don't you get it Naruto? They are trying to kill you. You can't go near my brother. He works for the very group you can't get anywhere around."

"I know."

Sasuke stopped. He looked at Naruto penetratingly for several minutes. Silence reigned in the clearing they had met up in. "What happened to you, Naruto? You didn't used to be like this. You were the eternal sun, refusing to recognize anything bad, chasing away dark clouds before they could form. But now. . .where did you go, Naruto?"

"It doesn't matter. Will you go back or shall I force you back?"

Sasuke, for the first time since his clan died made a decision that was not based on his own selfish desires. For the first time in years he made a decision to help someone other than himself. "I will go back, Naruto. And I will find out what happened and I will make it right. I will save you, Naruto."

I said nothing. I merely inclined his head and together we leapt into the trees and left for Konoha. At the gates I left Sasuke in the care of the guards and took off again for the last known location of one Uchiha Itachi. I truly didn't know if Sasuke could kill him yet or not but I did know it was what he wanted more than anything else in the world. You might be wondering why I was willing to go hog-tie someone and drag them to the fight of their life knowing full well someone would die in the process. Truth is I no longer allowed myself the luxury of trying to save those I was ordered to kill or capture. There was no point. No matter what I said or did to try and save them no one listened. I was just a monster and therefore anyone I deemed important enough to save wasn't as human as those who wished for their blood.

I found Itachi a few days later. Luckily he was alone. We fought but long practice of not looking people in the eye anymore stood firm in my favor. He could not use his eyes on me if I would not look at them. He too seemed to recognize the difference in me since he had last seen me. Finally we stopped fighting.

"You should have come with me years ago, Naruto. They could not have done this to you if you had."

"What difference does it make if I kill for you or if I kill for the Old Man's village? I still kill either way." I wrapped chakra chains around his hands and torso.

"Because we would not have had you killing anyone. We would not have destroyed you to use the Kyuubi."

"Hai. Believe that if you wish but I know it is a lie. Your group would have tried to extract the Kyuubi and thereby killed me as surely as you seem to think I am already dead. But it would not have worked. Kyuubi can not go anywhere. It is my prisoner as I am it's. Neither can or will leave the other. We are bound." I took the end of the chain and pinched the nerve at his neck juncture. Then slinging him over my shoulder I leapt back into the trees and took off for the Leaf again.

A week later I was back in the village. The people were happy, I saw. From the sounds of the chatter, many of them thought Sasuke had come back on his own, just sauntering up to the gates under his own power and checked in as if he'd only gone on a long mission. Itachi's return was covered up but sitting on my roof I no longer cared. Suddenly I felt another presence on the roof. I froze even though I knew he already knew where I was. Silently he glided over and sat facing me.

"Now that you brought him home. . .Now that you kept your promise, Naruto. Will you come home too? Please?"

"_I am here,"_ I thought but I did not speak or look at him. People did not like it when I looked at them with his eyes. His cursed eyes as blue as any summer sky and ever so deceptive. My visitor was talking again so I concentrated on his words before I could get lost in the past.

"No, I know you think you are here but you aren't. Not really. You aren't here. This is only the shell of who you are. You left us when he ran away and Sandaime died. I want you to come home, Naruto. Sakura wants you to come home. Your friends want you to come home. We miss you."

I was puzzled. _Friends? What friends? Sakura? Are we talking about the same pink headed trollop that beat the shit out of me while I was already bleeding to death because I did not kill her Sasuke-kun in order to bring him home the first time? _I shut that train of thought off before I could get derailed. I said nothing out loud and he left shortly afterwards. I stayed on my rooftop looking out over the peaceful seeming village.

__________________________________________________________________**Everyone Else**

Kakashi reported to the Hokage's office. Tsunade looked up with hopeful eyes. He shook his head.

"But why? He brought him back. His goal is done. He even brought back the other Uchiha. Why won't he come back to us now?" she asked.

"I don't know. I know he was close to the Sandaime and when he died, everything happened so fast. The people were so angry and scared. They needed someone to blame. They blamed him and I didn't do enough to help him."

"None of us did. We care about him but we forgot to let him know that," said Iruka from his small desk along the wall where he helped Tsunade with handing out missions when the academy wasn't in session. "In our grief we forgot about his and we let the council get their foot in the door."

Everyone sighed. All of them could clearly remember the smiling ball of energy. A miniature sun they had always assumed nothing could ever dim for them. But now they knew better. Even when he was home Naruto wasn't here anymore. He had gone away somewhere none of them could follow. "Keep talking to him, Kakashi. Try to find a way through to him. He's going to end up killing himself and as quiet as he is, it'd take forever until someone noticed they hadn't seen him lately. He's almost unseen even when he is here."

"His friends see him," said Kakashi. "They talk to him but he never answers them. All of them blame Sakura and Sasuke for his shutting them out. I think even Sakura blames herself."

"She should," growled Tsunade. "She beat the crap out of him when he was bleeding to death from that damn chidori. She accused him of not trying hard enough. She blamed him for not really dying to bring that punk home for her. I hope she's happy with what she did."

"She's not," said Kakashi. "I think she honestly thought he would shake it off just like he always had before. That he would climb from his deathbed and go try again because she wanted him to. But she sees what she did to him now. She sees it and she doesn't like it but like the rest of us she doesn't know how to undo what she did."

As Kakashi had said, the trio in the office were not the only people worried for the blond they had come to love and cherish. All the rookie nine plus their sensei were worried for him as well. Each of them took time every day to look for him and if they could find him to try and talk to him.

Ino was hurting so bad for him that she cried almost nightly. She had told her father his pain was so deep he couldn't even feel it anymore but she could and all she could do was cry for him because he couldn't cry for himself. That made Inoichi look at the blond as well. He had even tried to go into Naruto's mind to see if he could help him but all he could find was the memory of the events surrounding the invasion. He saw the Sandaime's representation, a tall smiling Old Man with sad lying eyes. He saw Sasuke's representation, a pouting little boy sitting in a dark corner and crying over what he couldn't have. He saw Kakashi, a tall aloof splash of silver and grey that was forever moving away. But nowhere did he find Naruto. No matter how hard he searched he could not see Naruto. He ran into the walls he could not break through and knew Naruto was on the other side of them. He reported his findings to both Tsunade and to the council.

Danzo had smirked and commented how it was a good thing. He had gone on to explain how now that the brat was out of the way, they could make use of the demon's strength for the benefit of the village. It was about time Kyuubi paid back the village it had tried to destroy. Inoichi was sickened by the answering smirks he saw on the other faces of the council. He and his friends had done their best to help Naruto. Chouza had worked up a special travel food for him and Shikato planned his missions for him whenever they knew he was to be sent out of the village and every time he came home Inoichi tried again to find the boy. But he was never successful. Naruto just wasn't there. But he did come to the agreement that Ino was correct. Naruto, wherever he had gone, was in so much pain he no longer even felt it. He could not cry for his pain anymore because it was so thick he couldn't feel anything else. It was so deep he couldn't believe anything would make it go away.

Tsunade had even called Gaara in to try and help the blond but again it did no good. Naruto was gone. He walked and talked and acted appropriately but _he _wasn't home anymore. Gaara had looked at everyone with hate burning in his teal eyes as he congratulated them on destroying the greatest gift their village had ever been granted. He told them wherever Naruto had gone, he would likely never return because, wherever he was, was better than anything anyone here had ever shown him. Then he had gone back to Sand and cried on Temari's shoulder for Naruto's pain. Gaara thought he knew all about pain but what he had picked up off Naruto was soul searing agony that left your breath trapped in your chest and tears locked behind your eyes. Temari had told Gaara Naruto was grieving. She told him Naruto was definitely grieving for the Sandaime but who else he might be grieving for was unknown to her. What she did know was that no matter how many people he was grieving for she didn't want to be anywhere near Leaf when he stopped grieving.

__________________________________________________________________**Naruto**

I continued to do missions assigned to me by Danzo and the council. I spent more of my time out of the village than I did in it but it really didn't matter to me. I quit taking care of myself once Sasuke and Itachi were home again. It didn't matter anymore. I had only needed to survive until they were both home and now that they were what did it matter if I died because I didn't eat or sleep? I took back to back missions to the far corners of the Elemental Lands. I had a nickname now and my own listing in the bingo books but again I didn't know and could have cared less. I actively sought death. I courted it as most men court a girl they want to bed but always it eluded me. A deep slash would heal without even leaving a scar. A poison tipped dart or senbon was food to Kyuubi and never did more than make me dizzy. Still I chased after death salivating at it's heels begging for it to claim me soon. Always it laughed at me and left me behind again.

Every mission regardless of my orders I gave my opponents a chance to kill me before I killed them. That's why I was deemed the Gentleman Killer in the bingo book. Survivors always said I would offer my victim his choice of weapon or even allow him to select another to face me if he or she felt they could not win against me themselves. But always I won. Always my target died but never once did they curse me. Maybe they knew I was already cursed and so their curse wouldn't matter. I returned Sasuke in the spring and in the early summer he was free to walk the streets of the village and so was his brother whom he had decided not to kill after all.

By Fall, I had killed another sixty men women and even a few children though those were accidental or mercy killings. I would not leave a child to grow up a hated orphan but I also did not like killing them. More than once I took the time to take the children to wherever their living relatives lived so they would be cared for. My ranking in the Bingo books which circulated every village and town of the Elemental Lands listed me as a triple S ranked contract killer who never missed his target. Every single listing told people to run at the first sign of my approach and pray they were not the one I was sent to get. That was unusual for a bingo book but every single one included it.

Winter came and still I was gone more than I was home. Snow fell in Konoha but I did not see it. It fell into the open windows of my apartment and piled on my floor soaking into the worn and half rotted floorboards as if it could hurt them anymore. People came to my apartment looking for me but even if I was there I never answered the door. It didn't matter who they were or why they were there. I had a set time to go get my missions and a set time I left to do them. The only thing random in my life was when I would return from them. Another thirty people died that winter without giving me anything to ease my way into death. I longed for it so badly I could taste it but still I couldn't grasp it.

Spring came again and the villagers planted their fields and planned their festival. I watched from my roof when I was home. My hair had grown long and shaggy. It hung in lank strands to conceal my hated eyes and fell past my shoulders covering the holes and stains I hadn't bothered to try and hide. My clothes were more tatters than they were actual clothing but I didn't care. The money I earned from my missions sat as uncashed checks in my apartment or as ryu wherever it landed. It had been so long since I had gone shopping for anything I no longer even thought about it. I ate what I could find on my travels and barely bothered to repair or clean my weapons. I never replaced them when they broke after too many uses. When I was home I sat on my roof until it was time to go get a mission. Most the time Danzo had one for me but sometimes I was turned away by one of his fellows. When I was I went back to my apartment and sat on the roof again until I slept only to wake cold and cramped but still uncaring. I never trained anymore. What was the use in training when you courted death every day and longed to feel it's embrace? Training only meant the person who could kill you now would not be able to when you finally met them in battle. I left the village on a mission again a day before the Festival of Fools.

___________________________________________________________________**Everyone Else**

Once again Kakashi and Iruka were meeting with Tsunade. "He looks terrible. His hair is long and dirty. His clothes are nothing more than rags. I took his weapons to get them repaired and Tenten's Father went off on me for letting them get into such bad shape until I told him they were Naruto's. He went silent then and just got me new ones to replace them with. He didn't even charge me for them," said Kakashi.

"We can't reach him. He's killing himself and we can't stop him," cried Iruka.

"And that damn Danzo gloats. He's so proud of Naruto's listing in the bingo books you'd think he had something to do with it," snarled Tsunade.

Inoichi and his teammates came into the office. "I assume we are talking about our MIA ninja who just left on another suicide run?" Inoichi asked. All three of the other adults just sighed and nodded.

Tsunade said, "Every time he's here we try to reach him but he doesn't even seem to realize we're there more often than not. He has stopped taking care of himself now. And I doubt he even knows of his listing in the bingo books. The Gentleman Killer. What a joke. If only they knew how desperately he longs to die." Tears overflowed the golden eyes and spilled down the pale cheeks as the Hokage mourned for the child she couldn't save.

"The only way it will stop is when he dies, Hokage-sama," said Shikato. "He doesn't want to live without his precious person anymore. He misses the only person who seemed to know exactly what to do at all times to help him. None of us took the time to get to know him the way Sarutobi did and now that the Old Man is dead we find we can't help Naruto. It's too late to find out how to help him."

Itachi came in with Sasuke. "No it isn't," said the elder of the two. "Sasuke and I can reach into his mind in a way you cannot Yamanaka-san. We can reach Kyuubi itself. But the only problem is getting Naruto to look at us when we try. He won't look at us. Any of us."

"What good would it do to let you two loose in his mind so you can play more head games with him than those you already did," snapped Kakashi.

"Neither of us did this to him," said Sasuke. "This was all the doing of the so-called good people here who hated him for no damn good reason. This was the doing of people who laughed at him without once trying to understand why he did the things he did. This was the doing of the ignorant who saw his blond hair and blue eyes and accused him of mocking their hero whom they conveniently forgot summoned a monster to showcase his own glory."

"What?" sputtered Iruka and Tsunade together. Kakashi just sighed and hung his head. He knew that was the pure unadorned truth. Yondaime had designed the seal and gotten Kushina pregnant all for the purpose of making sure the people of the Leaf would never forget what a great man he was. When she was close to her delivery date, he summoned the Kyuubi to the village and Kyuubi had come. Kushina was given a drug to push her into early labor so he would have his child to contain the demon and his plan went off without a hitch. Except for one very small detail. No one plays games with the gods. Minato had thought he could barter Kushina and Naruto's souls for summoning the death God to the mortal plain to seal the Kyuubi. But Kami had already taken Kushina with her and Naruto was an innocent. Shinigami's laughter could be heard all over the battleground as he pulled Minato's soul free of his body. His laughter was echoed by the evil cackle of the Kyuubi until it was slammed into the belly of the newborn child. Then all that could be heard was the tortured wails of a cold and forgotten abused baby. But Minato had gotten his wish. The people who did not know the truth saw him as the Hero he wanted them to see him as and condemned his son for his survival of the first attempt to kill him.

"What are you saying? Minato summoned the Kyuubi? How do you know that? What proof do you have?" questioned Tsunade.

"It's true," said Kakashi, wearily. "I don't know how they found out and I have to say I hope to God Naruto doesn't know. He's always looked up to that man who was never who he thought he was. If he knows the man never intended for him to live past his first day then everything that's happening now makes perfect sense." He sank down on the sofa and stared morosely at his hands.

Iruka quietly said, "We often make people who died bigger and better than they really were as a way to only see the good they held inside of them but when they were as well known and as young as Minato we tend to go overboard."

Itachi sighed. "Naruto knows. Jiraiya told him on that trip to bring Tsunade back here to replace Sarutobi. Naruto confirmed it with Kyuubi whom, he told Sasuke, did not want to tell him."

Kakashi gave a strangled cry and vanished from the room. Now they knew why Naruto had gone away and they knew he would not be coming back willingly. Jiraiya had dealt him his deathblow in every way but physically. The blond was still alive in body but heart, mind and soul were long gone. It all made sense now but the question was how could they help him. How could they convince him to live when even his father had only desired his death?

"Inoichi? Can we help him?" begged Tsunade.

The ice blond shook his head. "Look out your window and tell me what you see. Open your ears and tell me what do you hear?" She did as he requested. She saw the banners of the festival in the marketplace and in the central meeting square. She heard the people singing Minato's praises for his selfless act of sacrifice but now she saw it from Naruto's eyes. Now she heard it the way he would. "The only way to convince him coming back to us is worth it is if we first convince the people that their hero was anything but. And they will never accept that. They have spent seventeen years worshiping a false memory of who he was."

"Then this is the last year I will put up with this stupid festival. Long have I thought it was a waste of time and only served to remind people of things and people they should have already moved past. It ends this year." She turned to Itachi. "You said you and Sasuke can talk to Kyuubi. What good would that do us?"

"Kyuubi can tell us where he is hiding and how to help him come home. I know, galling as it may be to have to ask a demon for help, I found out the two are interwoven now and neither can die or move on so long as they are bound together. He told me Akatsuki would never be able to separate him from Kyuubi unless the demon willed the separation itself and Kyuubi doesn't."

Sasuke added his own two ryu to the conversation. "For whatever reason, that Demon doesn't want Naruto to physically die and so it stays bound to him and keeps him alive. And Naruto no longer cares one way or the other. If he gets a mission that kills him, it won't matter to him. In fact, I think that's what he's hoping for. I have a feeling that when he finally does get that mission and he does die, we will hear his laughter floating on the wind across the world. But until then, if he comes home, that matters even less. He simply exists waiting for the next step."

Three days later Jiraiya reported in to the tower expecting to leer at Tsunade's oversized breasts and maybe get punched out for it. But he never got the chance. Before he knew it was coming Tsunade punched him. She screamed at him for being all kinds of an idiot in telling Naruto he had never been anything more than a play toy to his Father. A play toy his father had used to kill his mother and so many others. She asked him point blank why he felt it necessary to tell the boy that.

"Because from the minute my student took him onto that battlefield that has never been a boy. He was and always will be less than human and I was tired of his stupid act. He is not now nor has he ever been stupid. Demons never are. And he holds the king of them inside his gut. Stupid was never a possibility for him. But Sarutobi-Sensei let him continue with his I'm just a normal little boy act and it was getting in the way of him using his natural skill and ability. I was right too. He's the greatest assassin to walk this planet. No one can come close to his prowess on the battlefield."

"You Fool!" Tsunade sent a fist into his gut with so much force she ruptured his insides as he went flying out the tower window. He flew across the village and landed on his butt in front of the hospital doors. Shizune came out and got him taking him inside to work on his injuries. She asked no questions and didn't give a damn what he said in way of explanation.

___________________________________________________________________**Naruto**

I continued to do the missions that were assigned to me by Danzo and crew. It looked like the seventeenth year of my life was shaping up to be an exact repeat of the last several years. I saw no one when I was in the village and spoke to no one including the people who gave me my missions. I just took the scroll, read it and left. I ate when I had to and slept when I could no longer stay awake. I lost weight but I didn't care. I did spend some money to replace my clothes when they got too worn out to stay on me anymore. Maybe it was because I was too thin now. I don't know. I don't really care either.

All that matters is finding the person who can kill me. The person who can set me free. All I wanted to do was go free but so far I can't. I survive every battle and my reputation grows. Now I was called the Wild Gentleman Killer but just as before I didn't care. The bingo books had been updated and once again I was in a category all my own but I was probably the only person in the world who didn't know it.

I beg all my targets to please honor me by doing their best to kill me. Few do but sometimes I would look in their eyes and see that they understand my plea. For them, I always give them a proper burial as thanks for trying even if they did not succeed. But for those who simply screamed and cried and begged for mercy, I only end their existence as calmly and cleanly as I can. I don't bother to bury or burn the bodies of those who choose to die without honor as sniveling cowards in the dirt. As always I take care of the children they leave behind, either by killing them so they will not have to know the loneliness of existing without anyone to care for you, or by taking them to someone who will care they survived. As always I spare the innocent.

Danzo was, I knew, arguing with the council as to whether or not he could send me to deal with Orochimaru or the Akatsuki. For some reason the council was against the idea. They did not and would not approve of me going after any of them even though they all knew that if anyone could kill those guys it was me. I paid very little attention to anything when I was in the village but that issue was being hotly debated while I was there to get a new mission and it caught my interest. I wanted to speak up and say I would take the mission to kill Orochimaru but Kyuubi held my tongue silent. She would not let me accept that mission. It occurred to me he was the one that could kill me. I almost cried at being denied my death but the tears wouldn't come. So I went home to wait.

I sat on my roof again. Days passed without my notice. I slept when I was tired and ignored my stomach when it growled as if I would actually pay attention this time. I don't remember ever really going inside my apartment unless I needed the bathroom and that was so rare a thing anymore I could usually spend days before needing to go. One good thing about having the bond with Kyuubi was the demon was able to recycle my bodily waste until nothing could be gained from it anymore that was in any way good for either my form or hers. My hair had grown more and now my eyes were completely invisible as my bangs had grown long enough to completely hide them away. My headband was also hidden from view but I didn't care. If my marks didn't know who I was then when I finally got to the one that could kill me, it would bring no shame on the village when I fell to them.

People came and sat with me as they always do when I am here but their voices fell on the breeze like nothing so much as the soft whispers of the leaves on the trees. Chattering girls sounded like nothing more than overly chipper birds loudly warning others to stay away from their nests or feed. Sometimes one of them would hug my body but it did little to warm the chill in my bones.

The one eyed man came and sat with me but he no longer tried to talk to me. He no longer begged me to come back. Instead he would sit with me and cry. I wished I could cry but I couldn't. Tears were for people who were wanted and cared for. Tears were not for demon half-breeds like me. They were not for tools meant to be wielded for other men's glory.

Sometimes I thought about the Old Man and now I understood why he never smiled with his eyes. Now I understood why no matter how happy he seemed his eyes were always sad. He had known the truth. I was not human at all no matter how hard I pretended to be. He had known I was a demon in human skin. He had known it from the beginning while I was crying and pretending the stupid had simply failed to give me a true killing blow. He had known they had not. He had known.

Then it happened. I was taken to a room with white walls and ordered to sit in a chair with a headrest and shackles everywhere. A band snapped around my head as I sat down. Another snapped around my chin. Yet more bound my waist, hands, upper arms, legs and ankles to the chair. My hair was trimmed allowing my eyes to be seen for the first time in forever. I shut them against the harsh glare of the lighting.

The one-eyed man shut off the lights to the angry muttering of the others. I heard him say something but I could not understand him. It didn't matter. The darkness was welcome. I opened my eyes again. Immediately a pair of red eyes with black dots filled my vision. I didn't care. I watched as his form appeared in my mind. He looked around some and then headed for Kyuubi's cage. So they wanted to check on the whole demon, did they. Why? Did they think I was failing them somehow? I did every assignment they requested I do. Every person who's death they wished for, lusted after, was granted by my hand. What did Kyuubi's status matter to them now? They had never cared before.

I followed the man with the long black hair into her room and walked into Kyuubi's cage. I sat down and leaned back against her as she wrapped a tail around me. I didn't know the long haired man couldn't see me. I didn't know that even here, inside my own mind I was invisible unless I chose not to be.

He stopped before her cage but well back from where the actual bars were seeming shocked at her free state. I knew she wasn't any more free than she had ever been but the bars of her cage were no longer visible to the mental eye. The seal was still there but you couldn't see it unless I let you. He seemed to shake and fear showed clearly in his mental form.

"**Kit. Show him he is safe before he kills himself and they try to kill us for his death."** I looked at her my question burning in my eyes. **"Kit, that white haired fool may have lied to you and done a lot of damage with his stupidity. You may be ready to die. You may lust after it. Long for it. Beg for it. But I do not and so long as one of us wishes to live we will. So let him see the seal and the bars."** Her words were clearly audible to the intruder and I saw his understanding on his face as I sighed and released the illusion that held the seal and bars from view.

The long haired intruder sighed and shuddered as they appeared. He coughed and then bowed to the Kyuubi. _"Excuse my intrusion, Kyuubi," _he said formally_. "I request a moment of your time if you would be so kind."_

"**Why? Never before in the almost eighteen years I have been trapped in this child has anyone cared about me. Or him. Why do you come here now upsetting the Kit and thereby upsetting me?"**

"_We have been trying to find a way to help him. But it's like he can't hear us. A lot of people are upset that he went away like he did. They are crying because they can't bring him home again and they miss him."_

"**So because he no longer smiles when they abuse him, they are upset and you come here to beg me to help you put him back there in that hell again. You who were willing to kill him in order to use me, expect me to believe you are here to help him? What on earth makes you think that I would desire to help you cause him more pain and anguish? What, pray tell, has he ever done to you that I should lend you my aid in killing him? And why should I care that those who only pretended to care for him while laughing at him and never helping him or worse hitting and abusing him while claiming to be civilizing him miss him now? Too damn bad. They will have to find a new laughing stock now. They can find a new punching bag for their tempers and drunken need to brawl with the helpless. They can find another to improve their self-images against."**

"_That isn't it, Kyuubi. They all realized what they did but in each case the realization came too late. He had already left by the time they woke up to what they had done."_

"**Oh really?" Kyuubi sneered, a much more effective expression Itachi discovered when it was worn by a demon. "Then if they don't think he is somehow sub-human, tell me why he still lives in that dump I can't even get him to go inside when the weather is bad? If they don't wish him to return just so they can continue to treat him to living hell why has no one bothered to fix that place? Get out of here until you understand from his point of view what hell really is." **She threw him out of Naruto's mind and he took a few minutes to come back to himself.

__________________________________________________________**Everyone Else**

Growling angrily, Itachi snapped, "Tell me, where does Naruto-kun live?"

"He lives in the abandoned sector of the lower east end. No one else lives anywhere near him and the power as well as the utilities have been off to that area for years," said Kakashi.

"I thought no one lived there," said Tsunade. "I approved a petition to demolish a whole block of the area just last week."

"Well, Kyuubi won't even consent to help us because she thinks I was lying since we haven't fixed his home up or even noticed how poor it is. She said she can't even get him to go inside the dump during bad weather. And she refuses to believe people who want him back other than to make him walk through hell again wouldn't have fixed things for him."

"But," protested Tsunade. "I do want him back. I don't want to hurt him."

"Well, the good news is he is still a separate person from her. I know he was there because Kyuubi spoke to him but I couldn't see him. And even in the safety of his own mind he didn't speak to me. He didn't even speak to the demon."

Inside Naruto while he was off doing his own thing, Kyuubi was listening to the mortals talk. She put Naruto to sleep and then borrowed control over his voice and eyes. For the first time in years someone heard him speak.

"**All right, you little pipsqueaks. Listen up. You want my help to bring him back into your realm. Then prove yourselves. This child of MAN has done nothing but suffer for you every day of his life. How do you think he felt when he was told point blank that everything he believed about himself was nothing more than a lie? A lie everyone knew except for him? He alone didn't know he wasn't human as anyone else. He alone thought people just missed their killing blows. But then that man who holds so much respect Kit gets hit for calling him Ero-sennin told him he was a demon. But I tell you now. _And I'd better never have to tell you again._ Naruto is not a demon in any way shape or form. He does not cry because that fool of a man told him demons don't cry. Again he shows how stupid he is. Demons do cry. We just don't do it where others can see us or for stupid reasons. That idiot told him his persistence in believing himself human was holding him back. He encouraged Naruto to believe he was me and I was him but I am female and Naruto is male. We are not one and the same. How much clearer do things need to be for you idiots than that? You want my help forcing him back? Then get that idiot who keeps sending him on suicide missions out of his life. You have no idea how hard I had to fight to keep him from accepting the mission to be a one man army to invade Sound to kill the Snake. He wants to die. I do not and that is the only reason he is still alive."** Naruto's voice was nothing more than a loud whisper by the time she fell silent and everyone knew even if she wanted to say more she couldn't as Naruto's voice was beyond speech now. A thick and heavy silence filled the hospital room as everyone present took Kyuubi's words to heart. They struggled to understand things from Naruto's point of view and little bits of nearly forgotten memories came back floating in the morass of their understanding as each remembered times when they could have said or done something to let him know they saw him as a person also but chose not to.

"All right," said Tsunade. "It's time we fixed things for him. Shizune, get a room ready for him here so we can start feeding him up. Kakashi, here's a voucher for clothing. Go get him some pajamas for his stay here. I don't care what else you buy for him but get him some decent clothes so he isn't stuck wearing a gown. Sakura, go line up a bath and a couple of aides to help you get him cleaned up. Sasuke, you and Itachi go to that apartment and make a list of what's wrong with the place. Whatever needs fixing, we fix but we have to know what needs fixing first. Inoichi, you stay here with me so you can help get him settled in. I think Kyuubi will help us get him healthy at least but I have no idea what else she'll let us do. Shikato, you and Chouza go get that damn Danzo and anyone else who thinks it's ok for him to die now off his back. I don't care how you do it. Just get it done. And if anyone sees Jiraiya, you tell him he's a dead man the next time I see him."

Everyone rushed out of the room to do her bidding. Sasuke and Itachi headed for the lower east end. Neither really knew where Naruto was supposed to live but both had seen him more than once sitting on the roof of a building there and with that in mind they headed for that building. When they got there, a contractor had the whole block taped off. "Sorry guys but we're gonna be demolishing this trash now that the demon no longer lives here," announced the boisterously happy man. "Finally got rid of that beast and now the only thing left to do is tear down it's hovel and the people can put it's existence behind them once and for all."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Itachi. "I am not aware that Konoha ever did have a beast that lived as a man."

"Oh we did. He used to pretend he was as human as I am but I guess the game got old or something. Hasn't been here in months. I ought to know. I've kept an eye on this property for years waiting for it to get tired and move away."

"Show me his apartment," snapped Itachi while Sasuke just seethed beside him.

"Well, ok. Not much to see. Windows broke out. Fixtures hanging by the force of plaster and piping only held in place by gravity if they're still there at all. Hope you brought flashlights. Even during the day the place is as dark as any cave. Makes the blood on the walls look fresh in the glow of the flashlights though."

The rotund man took them to the center of the block and pointed up to Naruto's door. "That one up there at the topmost corner was it's place. I always thought beasts preferred to be on or near the ground but then that was no natural beastie. Demons never are. Anyway, go take a look but I warn you now, I won't pay you anything if you get injured in should have been condemned years ago. Only reason it wasn't was because it lived here."

Sasuke and Itachi went on into the apartment. Both summoned fire to the palm of their hands and began to examine the place. Holes dotted the flooring and both brothers could see the floorboards had simply rotted through. Both wondered how many times Naruto had gotten hurt just walking across his own apartment floor. They were disgusted with the words painted on his walls and by the fact that every single light fixture was indeed missing from it's mooring. But both could see exactly why the man thought Naruto was a demon if this was the squalor he lived in. The bathroom was a disgusting mess. A water jug sat beside the toilet and it was clear Naruto used it to flush away his body waste when he had to use the toilet. The piping that used to carry water to sink, toilet and shower showed through holes where plaster had given up the fight to remain where it belonged. More holes in the floor made the room a danger zone such as Anbu couldn't even have survived going through.

"Sasuke, grab anything you think he might actually treasure. Pictures, ramen, money, weapons, clothing. Anything. He can't stay here. Now I see what the Kyuubi meant. How much did we really care if we didn't even treat him as well as the Inuzuka's treat their dogs?"

"We need for everyone who thinks they never hurt him to see this. Everyone who thinks he got more than he deserved. Everyone who thinks they treated him like they would want to be treated."

"Agreed. While you gather his things, I am going to get Tsunade and let her see where her so-called precious little brother called home. I'll be right back." Itachi was coldly furious in a way he had not been since the night he had been ordered to kill his clan for the best interest of the village. His stride as he prowled the halls of the hospital resembled nothing more than the stalking prowl of a very angry and hungry tiger as he looked for his Hokage. He found her and Inoichi sitting outside Naruto's room. "Come with me," he growled at both of them.

For once, Tsunade just gulped. She stood up and so did Inoichi beside her. Both followed Itachi back to the apartment building. The rotund man fell all over himself trying to make sure Tsunade knew how much he appreciate her faith in his ability to demolish the Demon's den and end the people's nightmare by replacing it with something beautiful. He was ignored as she followed Itachi without a word.

Sasuke was still searching for anything Naruto might treasure. He'd found more money in one form or another than he or his brother had. But nowhere did he find anything of a personal nature in the place. There were no books, no scrolls, no pictures or records. There was an over abundance of nothing that showed anyone had lived here in more years than anyone could count.

"Niisan, all I found was money. A lot of money some of it still in check form. He never even bothered to try and cash them. He doesn't even have a change of clothes here. Not even any soap or wash cloths or towels of any description. There's just empty space here. The only sign someone uses this place as a home is the money, some of which I am sure that fat man down there has been helping himself to for years now, and the jug of water in the bathroom," Sasuke said as they came inside.

"Are you even sure this is Naruto's place?" asked Tsunade dismayed by what she was seeing.

"Hai, it's the Demon's place. Well, it used to be before he moved on. Don't know where he's calling home now but it ain't here," said the contractor behind them.

"And how much did you steal from him while you were, as you said, keeping an eye on the property?" asked Itachi. Inoichi immediately entered the man's mind to check and verify the stumbling answer he gave.

"I didn't take nothing from him. So long as I saw proof he was still here I left the place alone. But nothing has changed in months now so he's moved on and I got the orders that'll let me tear this eyesore down. I can make a nice park for the children to play here and the people will heal. The nightmare that has been smothering the will of fire will end when this building comes crashing down. The people will wake up and they will walk with pride again instead of fear and grief. They will hold their heads up proudly and proclaim their true belief that the Demon has finally been defeated. And I will have a hand in making it so." The contractors eyes shone with the fervor of his belief that he was doing something right and good.

Inoichi came back into his own mind and stammered, "He is telling the truth. He never took even a single ryu from here. He would not contaminate himself by touching Naruto's money or belongings."

"But Naruto still lives here," said Tsunade. "How can there be no sign of his living here if he didn't take it away?"

"I don't know," said Inoichi. "I just know he didn't take anything from the apartment."

"Naruto gave up along time ago, Hokage-sama," said Itachi. "He quit spending his money to replace things the villagers thought he didn't need. He ran out of something or it got damaged past the point of being used he didn't replace it. He just learned to do without it. Jiraiya told him he was a demon pretending to be a mortal boy. He believed him. So he gave up trying to be mortal. The only thing he couldn't quit doing was actively seeking his own demise. He's been trying to die since he was twelve. He just can't do it and he can't even cry when he survives every fight because your idiot teammate told him demons don't cry. The very fact that he survived the sealing told Jiraiya Naruto wasn't human. Too bad I didn't know that when I met him on the battlefield. I would have ended his life and let him explain to Kushina why her baby wasn't human anymore."

"Yeah. I'm sure Kushina is tearing up Kami's domain waiting for him to show up. She's gonna make him wish he still had blood to give her," said Sasuke.

"What are you two talking about?" asked the contractor.

"Naruto. Someone you obviously never knew," snarled Sasuke.

Instantly the jovial attitude of the Contractor changed. "Now you hold on there, Boy. I am not one of your fans. I know what you did and what you thought you were doing. Personally I don't give a good gods damn what your reasons were for running off and hurting the Demon child but you did it. No one forced you to shove a chidori into his chest. You chose to do that and Uchiha or not, you didn't have that right. As far as him still living here, if he was I would not have submitted that petition to demolish this block. He never asked for his burden and so long as he wanted to make his den here I was all for leaving him alone. But as I said, he has not lived here in months."

"That's because he has not lived in our realm in years," said Inoichi sadly. "No wonder Ino said he has so much pain all she can do is cry in his place. His pain runs so deep he can't cry for himself. But as a matter of fact his body, his physical shell, does still call this place home."

"But," sputtered the contractor. "I checked every day for three months. I even kept track of the water level in the bathroom jug. There was never any sign he still lives here. Never. Even the money stopped stacking up."

"Nevertheless he does still call this place home," said Itachi.

"He sits on the roof to watch the village when he can't get a mission," said Sasuke. "I suspect he simply stopped picking up his pay for his missions since he never spends it anymore."

"So what now?" asked the contractor with drooping shoulders. "I do not want to take away the only thing he has. I do want to help the villagers put this all behind them but not at the cost of his last thread of contact with us. This dump is all he has."

"Tear it down," said Tsunade. "Do as you planned and tell the people he is gone. Chances are, even if we see him again, he'll never really be here anyway. My teammate destroyed him with his lies." She turned and left the derelict apartment building. She went to the Academy and called Iruka out of his classroom. Then she told him she wanted him to spend his off-duty hours figuring out how much ryu Naruto was owed from completed missions he never picked up the pay from. She told him Sasuke had found nothing but ryu in his apartment showing that he hasn't spent any in so long he probably quit picking up his pay. She told him when he figured it out then she wanted him to use it to buy Naruto a new home. She told him Sasuke had the ryu from the apartment and he could get him to help purchase Naruto's new home as well as straighten out the financial mess in the accounting office where she could already hear book keepers screaming at the mere thought of someone checking their books.

Then she went back to the hospital. Sakura came out of Naruto's room just as she got there. Tears sparkled in her eyes making the emerald green glisten like the gems they resembled. "He's so thin and scraggly, Shishou. It's a wonder he's still alive at all. Kakashi came in and kicked me out. He said there was no way in hell he was going to let me or any other girl bathe Naruto."

That almost made Tsunade smile but her heart was so low she just couldn't do it. "Let him be. Kakashi has missed Naruto more than he can admit. I almost think he has missed the boy more than any of us."

"What really happened to him, Shishou? The others are saying he broke but since he's even more functional broken like this the council doesn't want to interfere."

"In a way, that's exactly what happened but in his case someone took advantage of his grief over my Sensei's death to make him think he was only pretending to be human. They told him he had no right to grieve and told him the truth of his conception and birth. He was conceived to be used and killed upon his birth to win acclaim for his father. And this is the only part of the truth Naruto was told because my teammate was angry he was grieving for our shared Sensei."

"But why shouldn't Naruto grieve for Sandaime? He called him Jijii just as Konohamaru did. The old Hokage always smiled when Naruto called him that. He loved him. Why should he not have the right to grieve for him?" Sakura ended on a shout, anger radiating from her form in an almost visible wave.

"Because my stupid teammate wanted Naruto to give in to the power lying dormant behind his seal. He wanted Naruto to prove him and all the other stupid sheep right in their mistaken belief that he is the Kyuubi and the Kyuubi is him. And in telling him that along with the truth of his conception he robbed Naruto of his dreams. He stripped away his walls and any pretenses he had that showed him to be human. As human as I am, as you are, as any of us. Because he survived more than one assassination attempt when he should not have Jiraiya was able to strip away his belief, carefully cultured by Sandaime, that the attackers simply mis-aimed their blows. When he stripped that away, Jiraiya was able to convince Naruto that until he could die like any other man he could not and would not be human as we all are."

"Oh god," muttered Sakura. "And I helped him in that when I beat the crap out of him and screamed at him that he shouldn't have let a little thing like a chidori stop him from bringing Sasuke home. I told him a little thing like that was not serious enough to really hurt someone like him and that he was only faking his injuries. And all I did was confirm that old perverts words to him."

"And that's why Kakashi doesn't want you bathing him or changing his clothes now."

__________________________________________________________________**Naruto**

Days went by. I don't know how many. I lost count as I stayed trapped in my head and unable to get out of that stupid bed they strapped me to. For some reason, I couldn't move my body. I knew the one-eyed man was taking care of my body but I didn't know why. He had never given a rat's ass before. Why should he, a great hero of mankind, care one way or the other about a damn demon? I could hear people in the room but I understood nothing of what they said. I could feel the pinprick of the needle in my arm but I couldn't recognize what it was. I do know they cut my hair and washed it. Now my ugly eyes would show again. Somehow I just knew my hair was again that same ugly false bright yellow it had been when I still believed.

Every day the one eye came by. He changed my clothes and brushed my hair and washed my body. All the while he worked, he never said a word except my name. Every morning he would whisper my name and then he'd get to work. When he finished he'd just sit there, saying nothing but with one hand always touching me somewhere. Maybe it would be on my head. Maybe on my arm. Maybe he'd grab a hand but always he touched me. It made no sense but then people rarely ever did. Real people that is. Not pretenders like me. Pretenders like me, we always made sense because making sense made our pretense work. Confusion caused it to dispel and left us broken on the sidelines. Hai I knew I was broken but what else could I do? He was right. Until I proved I could die like anyone else, how could I claim to be human when I had already survived an assassination at three hours old? Truth was I couldn't. No three hour old baby survives an assassination.

So I stopped pretending to be human. I didn't understand these humans. They acted like it was some huge tragedy that I was no longer pretending. But I knew they couldn't really be this upset. No one liked a fake who pretended to be one of them.

Well, it didn't matter. They'd give up soon enough I thought as I drifted into a drugged sleep. I didn't know it was drugged of course but it wouldn't have mattered if I had.

___________________________________________________________________**Everyone Else**

Kakashi sat by Naruto's bedside. Today he was brushing his hand over the blond hair and waiting for a sign the boy was there again. He wanted so bad to see those eyes show even the smallest spark of life but even when they were open they remained empty. Devoid of that happy sparkle.

It wasn't until after the beat down with Sakura that he admitted how much he cared for this mistreated student and by then it was too late. The kid had taken one blow after another so fast he couldn't cope with it. Hers had been the final straw but the pile of blows had been building for a long time and it had finally gotten too heavy. He fell underneath the weight of the village anger. And no one heard him cry for help. Kakashi hadn't heard his cries for help. He hated himself for that. But Naruto was his teammate, his comrade, and never again would he leave a comrade behind. So he was here every day. He cleaned him and groomed him and changed his clothes. Twice a day so when that spark did appear he'd be clean and comfortable. He knew how much the boy had hated to be dirty. Always Naruto had to be clean. He let himself drift into memories of doing missions with team seven, the only genin team he ever passed. He let everyone believe he had passed the team because it held the Uchiha but even then he had known this student, this boy in the bed, was the real reason the team had passed his test. It was Naruto who would never receive a different team if he failed Kakashi's test, for whom he had passed the cell.

Kakashi knew when it was time to set up camp by when Naruto began scratching. That was always a sign the boy felt he needed a bath. And he'd be miserable if he didn't get one. A miserable Naruto was not someone anyone wanted to be around if it could be avoided and a little thing like camping near a lake or a stream was a small price to pay to keep the smile on his face. Every mission they did where water wasn't available Naruto would be a scratched and bleeding mess by the end of it. The jutsu he taught him to purge the dirt did not do the trick for Naruto. He needed real water to feel clean.

Kakashi remembered how Sakura had complained about always having to camp next to water as it was chillier than camping away from it. She'd mocked Naruto's need for being clean until she realized how he tore his skin to ribbons if he couldn't get his bath twice a day. Kakashi remembered telling her once it was better to stop and let him get a bath than to be tracked by an enemy who could smell his blood from his scratching. She'd gone so far as to wrap his hands once but when she saw him break out in hives that evening she gave in. He had to have his bath twice a day, every day.

And so Kakashi was there to make sure he got them now. He knew the nurses wouldn't do it. No matter how much Tsunade pressured them into treating him like any other patient they could not forget the Kyuubi laying behind his seal. They often skipped his room entirely when they did their rounds to change patient beds and hang new feed bags or urine bags. But Kakashi wouldn't let him suffer any more than he already was. He got the fresh sheets and changed the bedding himself. He went and got the food solution bag and learned to change it when it was empty. Same with the urine bags. Since Naruto was being fed intravenously now he was producing a normal amount of urine.

"How is he today, Kakashi?" asked Inoichi coming into the silent room.

"He's the same. He was awake for a little bit but he showed no awareness of where he was. He has to come back. I won't just leave him behind."

"He will, Kakashi. We just have to convince him we want him back. And in order to do that we have to destroy Jiraiya's lies. We have to let him know to us he always was just as human as we are."

"But he wasn't to you, was he? Do you think he will believe you saw him as a human being when you are one of the people who sent him on suicide missions without even a back-up? Do you think he will believe you when even I know you sneered when he was running from drunken mobs? You didn't see him as human until Ino couldn't quit crying for him. Do us both a favor and don't lie around him any more. He's heard more than enough lies."

Inoichi's head had fallen as he remembered those times when he had seen the small blond running from the mobs and how he'd thought it was so stupid of him to even try to outrun them. He remembered how he had gladly agreed to send the blond genin on suicide mission after suicide mission always hoping he would fail to return. And it wasn't until he had seen Ino so upset she could not sleep or eat or concentrate on her training that he had finally opened his eyes. But even then he hadn't wanted to see. He hadn't wanted to know the truth. He had been comfortable in his blindness to Naruto's plight. But Ino had forced him to go see Naruto. To examine him and then tell her she was wrong. He found he couldn't. He found himself unable to see anything but the eyes of the Sandaime with the happy smile that would not, could not touch the bleakness and sadness Naruto had seen in them. And it wouldn't be until he learned of Jiraiya's deliberate lies mixed with truth that he would understand why Sandaime was the only figure in Naruto's memory.

"He knows what we all thought of him," he told Kakashi. "He knows none of us thought he was human. He knows that's why the Sandaime could never smile with his eyes at him for all that he smiled with his mouth. To Naruto, it was simply because the eyes can not lie as well as the mouth can. And to him, Sandaime was never able to forget that Naruto was not human no matter how much he acted like a normal boy. He has no other reason for why Sandaime didn't smile with his eyes. So he accepted Jiraiya's lies as the truth he'd been searching for. I know he always wanted to know who his parents had been. That they hadn't voluntarily left him behind but that isn't the same as finding out your very conception was simply to watch you die as soon as you were born." He sighed. "I guess what I am trying to say, Kakashi, is he may never come back again. Jiraiya did a lot of damage with his lies and we all helped to prove them correct. None of us are innocent in hurting him. We all did it. We all lied to him whether we were the ones running down the street chasing him with whatever we could lay our hands on or merely turning away when he came too close. We all lied when we claimed not to know the answers to his questions of who he was or where he came from. We all lied when we claimed he was too stupid to be taught or something was too dangerous in his hands with his limited control and understanding. I know if I were him I would not come back. He has a truth he can hold onto. No matter how unpalatable it might be to us it is a truth we can all accept. To die is human. And for him, being human is everything he wants to be. Until he does, he won't accept that he is human because he doesn't know any other way to prove it."

"Then find a way for him," snapped Kakashi. "Get out of here and find a way to help him or don't come back. He doesn't need your pity or excuses. He needs your help!"

__________________________________________________________________**Naruto**

I woke up to voices in my room. At first they were just noises but One-eye was here still so either I slept for a long time or I didn't sleep long at all. As I was pondering that I heard the one eye talk. He sounded angry. What was he saying? I needed someone's help? Help for what? I was fine. . . Wasn't I? Had someone finally managed to hurt me? I checked myself over. The pricking of the needle in my arm bothered me and without thinking about it I tried to pull it out. One eye reached over to stop me as someone else ran out of the room. One eye was talking to me but his voice was too quiet. I couldn't hear him now. All I knew was the needle in my arm. . . itched. Yeah, that was the word. It itched. I kept trying to pull it out all the while scratching the area it was at to relieve the itch.

One eye yelled at me. "Naruto." I looked at him. "Leave . . . it. . . be," he said, pronouncing each word clearly and distinctly. I frowned and looked at my arm. _But it itches_ I complained in my mind. However, I left it alone. One eye told me to so no matter the itch I would do as I was told. Demons did not question orders from humans. Well maybe true demons did. But I wasn't a true demon. I was only a pretend demon. I was not human but I wasn't a demon either. I was nothing. There was no word for the likes of me. No word that described me. No word that fit me. I was . . . . . . . . . . .nothing.

Someone rubbed some cool stuff on my elbow and the itch went away. I sighed, unaware the sound could be heard by everyone in the room. Nor was I aware of how happy it made them that I made a sound. All I knew was my skin did not itch anymore. I closed my eyes and drifted, letting the voices in the room fade into the background.

_________________________________________________________________**Everyone Else**

"Ok Kakashi, explain what happened?" said Tsunade. "He was here for a few minutes. I saw it and I want to know why."

"I'm not sure. Inoichi was giving me a load of crap to get out of doing his job and finding a way to reach Naruto and I got angry about it. I told him to get out of here and do his job. That Naruto didn't need his pity. He needed his help. The next thing I knew Naruto was digging at the IV trying to pull it out and scratching at his elbow."

"But you got him to respond to you. How?"

Kakashi was frustrated. Truth was he wanted to know how he had finally reached the blond as well but he just didn't know. "I don't really know. I was just following instinct. I called him by name. Something I do everyday. People have names. I can't think of any other way to let him know, to me he's human so I call him by his name. Every day. When he looked at me, I just told him to leave it alone and he did."

Hiashi was in the room and he had listened to Kakashi's explanation. Now he said, "It may have been your tone and volume more than the words. I have found that even when he receives a mission he shows no understanding until he reads the scroll on it. But most the council talks in sneers so I believe he has learned to block them out unless they yell or command in a firm tone. You spoke firmly and it sounded like an order so he obeyed."

"But he was here, Hiashi. I know I saw awareness in his eyes for just the briefest of moments," cried Tsunade. Kakashi nodded his head in agreement.

"He was here with us but not for long. However, I think Hiashi-sama is correct, Hokage-sama. Naruto frowned when I yelled at Inoichi-san and again when he was digging at his elbow. I forgot how sensitive his skin is. The needle with the food flowing through it causes an unstoppable itch. And when I called him, he did focus on me but that doesn't mean he was reacting like he used to." Kakashi sighed. "I want him back more than you can imagine but I won't pretend his reaction today means he's coming home yet."

"I am sorry I could not give you that false hope, Hokage-sama, but you get frustrated easily enough and I don't want you to hurt him more when you try to talk to him only to get no response. Hinata says he has been gone for years now and that he has no reason to ever return to us because none of us ever gave him one. She says we deserve to have this village crumble into dust when he dies for what we did to him. I have never heard her sound so strong as she did then but one thing I could not walk away from was the truth in her words. We do not deserve to have him back."

Jiraiya came into the room and sneered at the bed before turning his attention to Tsunade. "What are you trying to do here?" he asked.

"I'm trying to figure out how to save a very talented young man from an early grave," Tsunade snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find out why you're wasting time, effort and village resources on something that can't die. Minato knew what he was doing when he slammed the demon in his gut. He made the village the strongest damn weapon it will ever have and here you are trying to undo his sacrifice as if it means nothing. But that demon filth put our village so far atop the heap no one will ever topple us. Because of it, we can go any place we wish and if anyone objects just showing his book listing makes them shake and shut up."

Kakashi was shaking. He was trying to control his temper and Tsunade took one look at him before motioning for Hiashi to escort her fellow Sennin out of the room. Hiashi also took a look at Kakashi before grabbing the Toad Sennin and pushing him out of the room. In the hallway, the Hyuuga head told Jiraiya, "If I were you, I would stay out of that room and away from Kakashi for a long, long time to come. He does not see Naruto as the Demon. Nor does he see your former student as a hero for planning Naruto's birth just to watch the boy die for his own glory. Minato may have created Naruto but he is in no way the Hero you want to make him. In fact, he disgust me. Now that I know what he did, my clan will only spit on his name and we will never honor his so-called sacrifice again. Truth is, he did not plan to sacrifice himself at all. He tried to sacrifice his wife and child instead. A child he plotted to conceive just so he could sacrifice him to the demon he himself summoned to destroy us."

"Now you hold on. The village was never in danger of being destroyed. Minato was not that callous. He just wanted to remind everyone of what he could and would do to protect us all. He was a seal master. Seal Masters are misunderstood a lot so he sought a way to make the people understand he was the right leader for them. That he was the better choice between him and Orochimaru. So what if he planned his kids birth to his advantage. The thing is, it worked. The brat was born in time to contain the demon. Sure the Shinigami was supposed to take the kid instead of the man but that was just a miscalculation on his part. He left us with the greatest weapon we'll ever have and you all fuss over it as if it's human. But it has never been human and it never will be. It's nothing more than a weapon and it's time my old teammate gave up believing in fairy tales."

This was more than even Hiashi's stoic nature could take and right then and there he unleashed his fury on the Sennin. His chakra loaded hands shut down every tenketsu in the Sennin's extremities. He left the internal organs alone knowing he'd kill the loud mouth idiot if he shut them off. But when he was done Jiraiya collapsed bonelessly to the floor. A lone nurse who had listened and witnessed the entire exchange looked at the Hyuuga head.

"Is what you were both saying true? Did Yondaime really do that to us? To his own child?"

Hiashi sighed and gave her a brief nod. "He did. He designed the seal on Naruto's belly first. Then got his wife, whom he married because she was as popular as he was, pregnant even though she did not wish to stop being a kunoichi yet. When she was nearly due, close enough he knew the baby would survive while she did not, he summoned the Kyuubi. He never intended for any of his little family, except for himself, to survive that day. But God's can not be fooled. Shinigami knew who had summoned him and why. He also knew who had summoned the Kyuubi to the village. So he took the guilty soul and left the innocent one behind."

"But he gave the child his blessing before he departed with Minato's soul," said Kakashi from the doorway. "I was there. I know what happened. Truth is Minato was hoping Kyuubi would kill me as well so he would no longer have to act proud of my accomplishments when people stopped to brag on something I had done. Everyone wonders about those scratches on Naruto's face. Most people assume they are the mark of his being a jinchuuriki but they aren't. Minato did that as he tried to curse Naruto. When he figured out Shinigami was going to take his soul instead of Naruto's he slashed the child with his tri-tipped kunai. The marks were bleeding, and with the curse Minato uttered as he made them they would have continued to bleed forever, until the Shinigami reached out and touched them. The bleeding stopped and the scratches became thin whisker like scars. Then he touched his forehead and Naruto quit crying."

"Let me see if I am hearing you right," said the nurse resting her foot on Jiraiya's forehead, too into the conversation to realize what she was doing. "What we, the villagers always saw as proof of his being the demon we feared, was nothing more than a god given blessing because of the despicable act his Otousan tried to commit?"

"I am. Shinigami blessed him. I didn't understand until a few years later and I saw him literally heal from a fatal injury. He takes the normal length of time to heal from non-fatal injuries but anything that would kill you, he heals from before he can die."

The nurse frowned and began to tap her foot that was resting on Jiraiya's head which he could feel but could do nothing to stop. Because she was wearing pants instead of a skirt he couldn't even enjoy his favorite past time. "But that could be the Kyuubi's doing just as easily. I mean, we were told if he dies, the demon dies as well. So it could be she is healing those injuries that would kill him while letting him suffer from normal injuries. I would think that would please the twisted senses of a demon."

"It would but Gaara doesn't heal like that and neither does Yugito up in Cloud. Only Naruto does. He heals and it is not Kyuubi's gift to him. If you'll remember the chakra that heals him is never red." Kakashi waited to see if she would choose to believe him or stick with her village told tale.

She considered it for a few minutes before saying slowly, "That is true. I have witnessed him healing after several incidents and never once was the chakra any color but as blue as his eyes. I don't know that I can accept it as the result of being God Touched but one thing I can say for sure is. I am VERY sorry he has to go through his life seeing the man who betrayed him every time he looks in the mirror. I could not imagine going through life that way."

Kakashi had long since gotten over the fact that Naruto looked so much like his father. He had forgotten that with everything Jiraiya had said to him, seeing himself in the mirror would be hard to do. Maybe that was why he had sought to hide his hair and eyes from the world. Maybe it hurt too much to see them. To know everyone else saw them also and to everyone else his appearance would be a mockery. He whispered, "Ah Naruto. I'm so sorry." He re-entered the room where Naruto lay so still on the bed. He knew the teen wasn't sleeping yet.

Everyone drifted away as the nurse came to get Tsunade to treat Jiraiya for his closed tenketsu. Tsunade wasn't happy when she found out what Jiraiya had been saying in the open corridor but she couldn't say she was surprised either.

The next day Kakashi showed up with a few different items. He drafted Sakura into helping him and she was surprised to see he had brought Naruto a pair of contacts, that were purely cosmetic in nature, and a bottle of hair dye. "We're going to change his appearance for him. We are going to let him see what he would have looked like if he had taken after his mother in coloring rather than that bastard of a father."

"Ok. But why?"

"Because looking as much like him as he does, hurts him with what he knows the man not only tried to do but partially succeeded in doing. And I don't want him to hurt any more. I'm tired of his hurting. He's suffered enough for everyone in this village and if this is all I can ever do for him then I'll do it and be glad I could do something."

And so they dyed Naruto's golden tresses red and placed the green contacts in his eyes. Then Sakura brought a mirror over so Naruto could see himself. At first, he refused to look but remembering what Hiashi had said about commands Kakashi ordered him to look in the mirror. The blue, now turned green eyes opened wide and Naruto gasped as he took in his altered appearance. He turned away. Sakura went to lower the mirror but Naruto reached out and grabbed it. He looked again before turning his eyes away. His grip on Sakura's hand hurt but she bore it knowing this was the first true reaction they'd seen from Naruto in five long years. He looked again and when the image remained the same he sighed. Slowly the first tear rolled down his tanned cheek as he stared into the mirror.

Sakura ran to get Tsunade as Kakashi enfolded the teen in his strong arms being careful not to block the view from the mirror. Tsunade stood in the doorway looking on the scene and deciding on the best option for Naruto's future. Finally when Naruto had fallen asleep worn out from crying she walked over and sat down in one of the chairs in the room.

"Kakashi," she said. "As soon as we get his weight up I want you to take him home with you. I don't believe Inoichi can help him nearly as well as you can. Inoichi is conflicted over Naruto's situation. On the one hand he sees a hurting soul that's not just broken. It's shattered and his insticts as a healer want to help pick up the pieces. But on the other hand he sees the weapon that can do the missions no one else can do and survive. His position as a council member for the villager is warring with his position as a healer for damaged ninja."

"Nor do I believe Itachi or Sasuke can help him. They have both been involved in attempts to end his life and all three of them have been involved in ridiculing him to one degree or another. Though they may be able to bypass the barriers Inoichi can not get by, to actually talk to the Kyuubi, there is no guarantee the Demon will ever help us bring Naruto back to reality. I have to say if I were her, I wouldn't. I would do everything I could to shelter and shield him for as long as he'd let me before exposing him to the very people who tried so many times to kill him just to see if they could."

"But you knew his father and his mother. And you do not see his father as a hero for what he did. You see him as he really was. It will take time but you can tell him the real truth. The truths Jiraiya didn't consider important enough to tell him." Kakashi gave her a look that silently asked for an explanation. "I talked to my slugs to see if they had any suggestions. Katsuya suggested I tell him to summon Gamabunta to tell him why his fathers name on the summoning scroll is not only marked out as deceased but all blacked out. Normally when a summoner dies their name will either be crossed off the list or the writing will turn black to indicate their blood no longer flows in their veins. Minato's is both blackened and crossed out. Katsuya suggested letting Bunta tell Naruto why."

She waited to see if he would say anything but he didn't. "Look. Out of everyone in the village I can not remember you ever doing anything to deliberately hurt him or cause him pain by praising his father's so-called sacrifice over his own. I can't remember a single incident when you either tried to get him to access the demon's chakra or equated them as one and the same being. You treated him as an individual and right now you are the only person I think he actually recognizes as a separate person from the rest of us. Because of that I want you to take care of him and I don't care if it takes the rest of your life. This is a mission I am giving you so you will continue to have an income but you can refuse if you wish."

"I will take care of him but I do not need the money. I have plenty saved up and taking the chance of having Naruto find out you assigned his care to me as a mission would be counter-productive. I will care for him because I can. Because he is my student and he needs me. Not because it is a mission you or the council assigned me. Just keep that pervert away from us. I do not want him coming anywhere near Naruto."

Tsunade nodded and stood to leave. "Take care of him Kakashi. I do love him."

"I know. So do I." Kakashi didn't know she had heard him but he also didn't care. He didn't mean it in a perverted way. He did love Naruto but he loved the boy for the goodness of his heart.

Two weeks later Naruto left the hospital in Kakashi's care. He was still pretty much unresponsive but he wouldn't let go of the mirror Sakura had given him and spent a lot of time looking into it and crying. Most people gave them a wide berth as Kakashi slowly walked him to his apartment. Only a few tried to stop them as they walked. Most of those who did either tried to trip Naruto or cursed at him for still being alive after all. Kakashi made a decision. He knew Tsunade wouldn't like it but he couldn't help Naruto here. There was too much negative energy here for that. He needed to take him somewhere people did not hate him based on who he was.

He settled the tired boy into his spare room and then packed his scrolls with everything he'd bought for Naruto as well as everything he wanted to take of his own. His Ichi Ichi collection stayed on the shelf where it belonged. Then he sat and thought of where he could take him to recover away from the people who had caused him so much misery. He could take him to Wave, Tea Country, Waterfall Village, Star Village, Snow Country, or even Sand Village but all those places were too far away for Naruto to go right now. He wasn't strong enough to travel that far or fast yet. He decided he'd take him to his clan house instead. The genjutsu on the place would keep the villagers from knowing anyone was actually in the seemingly overgrown place. He sent for Sasuke and asked the teen to see if Tsunade had a few minutes to stop by.

She came by as the sun was setting and Kakashi made her some tea. "I'm taking him out of the village. He can't heal here. On the short walk from the hospital he was cursed at by ten different villagers for still being alive and called a demon by each one even though they could clearly see me beside him. Five others tried to hurt him while calling him a disgrace to humanity. I need to get him out of here in order to heal him."

"I was afraid of that." She appeared to think about it. "Ok. Where do you want to take him and do you need help getting there?"

"No. He can't travel fast or far right now. He just doesn't have the strength or energy. But as for help it will be best if I am the only person who knows where he is. That way I don't have to worry about who they thought was trustworthy enough that they told."

"Ok but where will you go?"

"I know some places. Do you really need to know or are you just asking to be curious? If you know you can be tricked into telling and then we could receive orders that would not be in his best interest right now."

She thought that over. She knew he was saying the council, Danzo, could force Naruto onto another mission if he knew where to find the boy. But there was also the possibility that he would force Kakashi on a similar mission just to convince the boy his contact was in trouble and needed rescue. "No I don't need to know. You're safer if no one knows. But Kakashi. Keep me informed of his recovery. I want to see life in his eyes again." Kakashi nodded and she asked, "So when will you leave?"

"As soon as it is fully dark. Put someone we trust on the gate tonight who won't ask questions, please." She nodded and finished her tea before leaving to go make sure Kakashi's request was met. She put Iruka on the gate. As soon as the village fell quiet Naruto and Kakashi vanished from the village as Iruka silently wished them luck and begged Kami to watch over them both and keep them safe.

It would be another five years before anyone heard anything of them except for Tsunade. Kakashi used his pug summon to keep her informed and Pakkun told her everything. Kakashi spent the first six months getting Naruto's weight up and getting the teen to just respond when he called him without ordering him to do things.

But eventually Naruto began to thaw out and Kakashi was able to stop dyeing Naruto's hair but the contacts stayed. It appeared Naruto hated his eyes so very much. He could not stand them because Jiraiya said they were exactly like Minato's. The same exact shade of blue holding the same innocent air that was so very false and deceptive in both of them. Jiraiya had told him in Minato the innocence hid a very devious and attention seeking nature but in Naruto what they hid was so much more dangerous as they gave every appearance of humanity while the container was anything but human. It took Kakashi forever to convince Naruto his eyes showed the pure and unadulterated truth of his own existence. They looked human because he was human. He was not a demon or anywhere close to a demon as Kyuubi had been trying to tell him for years.

It was over a year before Naruto spoke. When he did he asked a simple question that nearly broke Kakashi's heart. He asked him, "What is your name?" Kakashi spent that night crying as if he'd never stop. Never had he believed Naruto did not know them any more. He sent Pakkun back to the village with instructions for Tsunade to get everyone who cared for Naruto to get a picture taken and send them back with the dog. He explained how Naruto had asked his name and he realized the boy had retreated so far from reality that he did not remember anyone any more. Tsunade did as requested that very day. And as soon as she had the pictures she sent them off with the little dog. Kakashi decorated Naruto's room with them. Each person had sent their own personal message with their picture. Outside of Itachi, who he called the Crying Man, and Sasuke who he called the Pouting Teme, only one of the rookies was recognized. That was Lee. Naruto looked at his picture and muttered, "Genius of Hard Work."

Kakashi had Pakkun take that message back and encouraged Lee to write to Naruto. Of course, everyone else was upset and both Itachi and Sasuke were embarrassed at Naruto's names for them, but Lee was ecstatic. Even as lost to reality as Naruto was he recognized Lee out of everyone. Lee eagerly took up the challenge of writing to his fellow orphan and genius of hard work. He extolled on the virtue of hard work overcoming inborn talent and special bloodlines while all the while encouraging Naruto to come back to them, to him. He let the somber boy know he missed him and couldn't wait to see him again. To just sit and watch the sunset as they used to. It was a lonely habit now without Naruto to discuss the vibrant colors with as they devoured the ramen afterwards.

Naruto continued to ignore the rest of the pictures but he paid attention to Kakashi and read the letters from Lee over and over again. He also answered them, telling Lee about the sunsets where he was and asking about the sunsets in Konoha. Lee gave him stroke by stroke details of the sunsets which Kakashi thought was over the top until he caught Naruto drawing it out one day. Then he understood. He sent Pakkun back to the village with an order for art supplies explaining why he wanted them. Even Inoichi said it was a good idea as he often used art to reach traumatized patients. He got a kit together and Tsunade enclosed it in a storage scroll for Pakkun to take back. The little dog never let it slip that they had never really left Konoha at all but as far as the people were concerned they were far away.

While Kakashi was working with Naruto, Tsunade and most of the council went to work on the village. Slowly they erased the people's mistaken belief that Minato had been the true hero of that day so long ago. It was hard but within two years they had opened enough of the people's eyes to the possibility that they were gullible fools where Minato was concerned that the people were at least willing to think about things.

It was Jiraiya himself though that cinched the change. He'd thrown a fit when he discovered that people were beginning to think Naruto really wasn't the Kyuubi after all. All that week the fool spouted off about how Minato had gone to a lot of trouble to give the village that weapon in the form of his own son and now they were going to willy nilly try and demean both of them by calling it human? Tsunade ended up having to interfere and save Jiraiya's life when the people tried to riot and kill him for his comments.

But his rants brought the truth to the streets and she made a public statement regarding them. She asked every parent to look at their child and then ask themselves what kind of people would they be if they had engineered the birth of their child just so the child would be available to contain a demon and die in their place. She asked them if they thought they should be honored for doing that to their child. Then she reminded them that not only had Minato designed the seal, which she reminded them was highly complex and had taken Sarutobi years to unravel, but it takes nine months for a baby to be born. She told them that there was no doubt in her mind, because there was no doubt in Jiraiya's mind, that Minato had planned for his wife to get pregnant when she did and against her own wishes.

Then she told the people the truth of why the Kyuubi had chosen to come to their village instead of other places where it's presence might have gone unnoticed for years on end. And how Minato had insisted on forcing Kushina into delivery of her unborn child knowing full well it would kill the small redhead whom they had all liked. She asked them all if it was truly Naruto's fault Kushina had died brithing him as they had all claimed when he did not give her the drug that forced him into the birthing canal. She reminded them all there were already two infant boys in the village at the time who were young enough to contain the demon but that Minato would not hear of sparing his wife her death and insisted it be his own child who became the container. She told them all of Minato slashing his son's cheeks himself leaving behind the trio of scars on each side of his mouth, which had always puzzled the villagers. The center scar was longer and deeper than the two outside scars and that alone had made more than one person question where they had come from. But Minato had wanted his people to know he cursed his child and that he did not consider the boy his heir. He had declared to Sarutobi that the child was to be named Uzumaki Naruto and never to inherit anything from his estate as he was unfit to be a Namikaze due to the demon sealed in his gut. Then she read the people a letter Sarutobi had left for her, should the day ever come when the people were ready to hear the truth.

In the letter, Sarutobi admitted he had a hard time looking at Naruto and not crying over his innocent belief in the goodness of his natural father. It was the hope of a pure and innocent child that he just could not bring himself to destroy and yet he hadn't been able to hide from it either. He admitted to his people that although he loved them all with everything in his heart, none of them were half as pure or special as the little boy who had only been born to die in his father's stead. That he had not done so was not his fault but rather the miscalculation and egotistical belief of a foolish mortal who sought to trick the Gods. Sarutobi reminded everyone Kami and Shinigami were not fools to be trifled with by any mere mortal. Even the Demons knew better than to play games involving the Gods.

After the five years Kakashi returned to the village with Naruto. The blond was once again blond and blue eyed but his eyes were no longer innocently happy. They now held a wisdom that went deeper than most men could ever fathom but the people were glad to see him.

Danzo had finally died of old age leaving his seat on the council vacant. His root organization petered out and died a slow death without him at the helm to guide it. He had never encouraged leadership in the people who filled his ranks and so when he died no one was trained to lead their fellows.

Jiraiya had also died a bitter old man cursing his Godson all the way into his grave but no one listened to him anymore. He had been locked away in a chakra draining room at the Sanatorium to keep his bitter words from doing any more harm than they had already done. The workers assigned to his care were all deaf mutes who couldn't understand a single word he said. But it was his death that had brought Naruto home. He came for Jiraiya's funeral. He said nothing as he looked at the picture of the leering pervert on the dias. When he turned away silently everyone understood he had talked to the old Sennin in his own way.

He tried to move back to his rundown apartment only to find a park where the building had once stood. He stood there blinking at the spot with his head tilted to the left wondering what had happened to his home until Kakashi came to find him.

"They used the money you amassed doing all those missions to buy you a new home, Naruto. Come on. I'll show you where you live now."

"But. . .why?"

"Because no one should live like you were. Because even the Inuzuka dogs had better living conditions then you did."

Confusion showed in the blue eyes as a crowd began to follow them. Mostly it was made up of his fellow comrades but a few were civilians who had once treated him horrendously. "Kakashi?" he asked, with fear clear in his voice as he took in the crowd.

"It's ok. They won't do anything. They just want to welcome you home again." Naruto eyed one man he clearly remembered receiving more than one thrashing from. He shook his head slowly not taking his eyes off the man for a second.

Hinata and Kiba both took note and told the man to leave. Hinata looked the man in the eye and said, "He remembers you all too well but then considering what you thought you had the right to do to him I don't see how you ever thought he wouldn't. Leave." Kiba took an aggressive stance in front of the man telling the man with body language he'd tear him apart if he didn't vanish right now. The man nodded sadly and did as he was requested.

Sakura and Ino were part of the group also. Neither girl talked to Naruto but both knew he was aware of their presence in the group. Sasuke and Itachi were at the back of the group, keeping it from growing too large having been warned by Kakashi that Naruto was still skittish and easily frightened into silence by too many people he did not believe to be truly his friends.

And because of the type of missions they had sent him on and approved that distrust included every single member of the Konoha council and Tsunade. She had cried rivers over that but Kakashi asked her how she would see things if she were the genin being sent on S rank missions alone. He told her she should have made her disapproval over those missions much clearer to him but she had stayed silent over them. So of course he thought she had approved them. He did know missions had to go through her office before they could be assigned to anyone whether they were genin or Anbu.

Also in the group were the members of team nine and Shino who had already sent his bugs to feast on Naruto's chakra. Shikamaru scowled at him and told him, "Get those bugs off him right now."

Naruto quietly said, "They are hungry. It costs me nothing to feed them and I have no right to refuse to be of service. I am Sacrifice."

Chouji stopped eating. "That isn't true Naruto. He has no right to just expect you to feed his swarm. He can feed it himself. That's what his own body is designed to do. To not do so demeans you while granting him a superiority he does not deserve and dishonors his bugs as well as his clan."

Naruto just kept walking while repeating, "It is my duty to serve. I am Sacrifice." Kakashi turned and glared at Shino who was smirking smugly.

"Get them off him or I start killing both them and you. You have no right to treat him or anyone of this village as your own personal smorgasbord."

"There is no need. They will not eat much as they are nearly full already. Besides all I was doing was seeing if he still knew his place. He does."

Instantly the rookies turned on him but the most frightening was when Itachi grabbed him and pinned him under the red glare of his eyes. "Knows his place, Bug Boy? And what exactly is his place in your opinion?"

"He is, as he says, Sacrifice. Sacrifices must always give way to those they are Sacrifice for. He is Sacrifice for the village. And that means he must do what is necessary to achieve our happiness even at the cost of his own."

"Like Hell," growled everyone in the group.

Itachi said, "Let me tell you who he really is, you blind little fool. He is this village's salvation. He is our hope. He is our every tomorrow because he is the Hero who saved us from the manipulation of an egotistic who would have killed any and all of us to gain himself a little bit of attention. He is everything you are not and you are not worthy of licking the dirt from the bottom of his shoes. I will proudly call him my Savior because he did save me. He not only saved me from his Otousan, who does not deserve that title from him, but when the darkness of having followed orders and killed my own clan overtook me, he washed it away and showed me the sun again. He took the darkness in my heart into himself and nearly drown in it but he set me free. That is who he is. Who are you compared to him? You, who when we were asked to send pictures of ourselves with our names and bios, did not even rate remembering as an individual to him."

Shino answered calmly. "I am one of whom he is Sacrifice for. I need not have a name from such as he to be worthy of his sacrifice. It is his duty and he will do his duty to me and my bugs whenever I require it." Then he turned and walked away considering his point made and having learned what he was following the group to learn.

Kakashi growled, "Hinata, tell your Sensei to keep that fool away from Naruto. If I see one bug on him I will not only kill the bug but I will hurt that brat badly. Kiba, you back her up."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei," both young people answered. Kiba added, "I can't say for Hinata but I will also be telling Kaasan about the attitude of the Aburame clan towards Naruto."

"Oh I will be telling Otousan as soon as I get home. I'd imagine he will be having words with Shino and his Otousan before the night is over."

Even though they were all young adults of around twenty-two now they still referred to their genin teachers as Sensei and none of them would even consider disobeying them for any reason. So the threat of having Kurenai hunting down Shino carried enough weight to cause both her students to shudder.

Naruto's saving had purchased him a nice bungalow on the edge of one of the nicer areas of the village. As soon as the villagers had begun to accept the truth of their so-called Hero and the one they had treated as the Bane of their existence, they had undergone a change of heart. So when Iruka had been house hunting for Naruto along with the Uchiha Brothers, Realtors had stepped forward to show the trio all kinds of fancy places. It had taken months to convince them Naruto would not want a big fancy house that proclaimed his existence without him having to say a word. He would want a small out of the way home where he could be guaranteed his privacy and live his life as he chose.

One of the smarter Realtors understood and admitted, "He doesn't want the kind of place Yondaime would have demanded. I have a bungalow on the edge of one of the nicer living areas I can show you. It's small but I think it's what you're looking for." Iruka and the brothers had negotiated a fair price with the realtor and the home was Naruto's. Then they had called in thier jounin and chunnin friends to help fix the small place up in a way that would please Naruto.

The small house was set back away from the street and screened from view by a low hedge. Large trees had been encouraged to grow by Yamaot when he had realized it was still too open for Naruto to be comfortable. They added to the homes concealment. The bungalow held a small sitting area, study, bathroom and a loft bedroom over the kitchen. A second bedroom was off the kitchen and Naruto relaxed upon being shown it. He looked questioningly to Kakashi, silently asking if the man was going to stay here also. Kakashi nodded, knowing full well Naruto was not yet ready to be on his own in the village. The rookies left soon afterwards when it was clear Naruto was tired.

Kakashi took the bedroom off the kitchen, insisting that Naruto have the loft. He bluntly told Naruto, "Iruka would be upset to find you gave me that room. He thought it was most fitting for you when he saw it."

"Why?"

"I'm not actually sure," Kakashi admitted. "He said something about the lighting through the windows up there being most suitable to an artist of your talent level."

"I am not talented," Naruto disagreed. It was automatic now and Kakashi had learned to just let it go.

"Go to bed, Naruto. It's been a long day. Tomorrow we'll begin training again."

Naruto nodded and climbed up the ladder to the loft. He changed unselfconsciously into his pajamas not caring whether Kakashi watched him or not. Not that Kakashi did beyond the point of knowing the young man would do as he told him to. Even though he was twenty-two now he was much younger emotionally. Kakashi knew chances were he would always need guidance. The emotional damage that had been done had been catastrophic enough to warp his independent nature and slipping away again would be all too easy now that he had done it once. But the Aburame's would either changed their attitude or they would be forced out to become a wandering clan once again. No one would ever be allowed to treat Naruto as less than human again. Not only would Kakashi not stand for it, Tsunade would not.

The sun rose on the village again and Naruto was sitting up in his bed staring out his window as he watched it rise. Kakashi started breakfast in the kitchen from the foods stocked by the rest of his friends in preparation for his homecoming. He knew chances were, because of Shino's attitude, Naruto would be distrustful of the food but he hoped the boy would at least give it the benefit of the doubt. When it was ready he went to the ladder and called, "Naruto? Breakfast is ready. Come on down now."

Naruto didn't bother with the ladder. He channeled his wind chakra to his feet and let it pool into a cushion under them as he leapt over the railing and settled slowly to the floor. Kakashi blinked. When had he learned to do that, he wondered.

"Where did the food come from, Kakashi-Sensei?"

"Your friends laid it in for us. They only laid in enough for breakfast and lunch so we'll need to go shopping for dinner."

"My. . .friends? You mean Lee?"

"Hai. Lee and the others."

"Who? Lee is my friend. He likes to watch the sunset with me." He was silent as he tilted his head to the left again. "But I have no other friends. No other person could ever wish to be nor afford to be my friend."

"That isn't true Naruto. That was a lie. Remember?"

"But. . .Friends do not . . . Lee said. . ." He sat lost in thought and not eating until Kakashi reminded him he needed to clean his plate and get dressed so they could go practice.

Later that day they went to a meeting with Inoichi where the mindwalker entered the mindscape to check Naruto's true level of recovery. He was pleased to note he could now see beyond the walls that had blocked him last time, though the image of the sad eyed but smiling Sandaime still resided. He still could not go beyond the walls but at least he could see through them now. Idly he wondered if the reason he could not go past the walls was to protect him from the Kyuubi which he knew could access this space of Naruto's psyche.

He saw the silvery white door with Kakashi's name on it in large letters. But he also noted a similar door with Lee's name on it though Lee's door had a green tint to the shine. A smaller door held the names of the rest of the people Naruto knew but all of them except for the ones with Lee and Kakashi's name were dark colored doors, indicating a bad relationship with those people. He almost overlooked a very tiny little door, too small for anything other than a very thin letter to slip through, and very, very black, that held the name of the Yondaime. How he knew it read the Yondaime, Inoichi wasn't sure, since his eyesight had been failing him recently and that door was very small, but he knew it did. Naruto had taken all of his feelings of respect from his childhood for the Fourth and compressed them, burying them under the weight of the truth he had discovered and with the size of that door, Inoichi felt he would never let anyone discover how he truly felt about the man who had sired him.

Years of experience in mindwalking troubled minds had shown Inoichi that the color of a door could indicate many different things based on the individual involved. Knowing Naruto, he knew the darker colored doors of those still living meant there were things about the people they represented Naruto would need to face and deal with before he could truly accept them back into his life as a trusted person. But Yondaime's was the only truly black door and somehow Inoichi knew it did not mean the young man actually hated the Fourth. It just meant that was a door Naruto would never open and what was behind it would remain untouched for the rest of his days. Inoichi sighed as he realized how long a road to full recovery Naruto had ahead of him and just how badly the people of the village had treated the blond. He left the mindscape.

Once Naruto had been sent out of the room he told Kakashi, "Be very careful of everything you say and do around him. You are the person he trusts most right now and if you hurt him in any way we will lose him permanently. Get Lee around him as much as you can. He genuinely likes and trusts Lee but no one else. Everyone he knows has their own door but only the two of you have doors light enough to indicate trust and friendship. Never have I seen a mind so indicating of loneliness and heartbreak as his is. His walls which kept me out last time are still there but last time I could not see through them. I can now though I can not get past them to poke and prod for ways to help him. It may be that the walls are keeping intruders safe from Kyuubi but at this point I can not say."

"I already knew Lee is the only other person he trusts and I am well aware I may spend the rest of my life restoring his faith in people especially after the stunt Shino pulled last night."

"I heard about that. I and my fellows have already taken Shibi to account for what his son did and my understanding is that Shino was supposed to apologize for times past when he and the clan let their bugs feed off Naruto's chakra without his permission. He said he would deal with the boy when he got home tonight."

"I believe he may be hearing about it from a few other people before the day can progress that far," Kakashi said smugly. "I did promise to thrash the brat if I saw a bug on Naruto without his permission."

After the meeting with Inoichi they had an appointment at the hospital for a medical check of Naruto's overall health. He had been in such sad shape the last time he had been in the village that Tsunade wanted a full work-up to assure herself that he was not going to die on her now. Three hours later she had run through every test she could think of and was semi pleased with the results she held. The blood work was still out but the results she held said he was fine physically. His weight was back in the normal range for a guy of his height and bone density. Though it was still on the light side of normal she could rest easy that Kakashi had it under control.

She also sent Naruto out of the room so she could talk to Kakashi without his input. "How is he, Kakashi?" she asked as soon as the door closed.

"As well as I could expect really considering the number Jiraiya and the events of the time did on him. Like I told you five years ago, it wasn't just one thing that led to his abandonment. It was everything. It was Sarutobi dying when the man had been his rock. It was Jiraiya chewing on him for grieving. It was Sasuke shoving a chidori through his lung. It was you giving him a necklace you believed held a curse for anyone who wore it except for yourself. It was even me for not training him the way I trained Sasuke. It was Sakura hitting him and hurting him for every little thing but especially for beating him after he failed to bring Sasuke home. It was the cold eyes the villagers showed him, the spit in his food, the foot suck out to deliberate trip him just so someone could hit or kick him for daring to make physical contact with them. It was everything. No one thing did this to him and it will not be easy to undo it now. I will more than likely spend the rest of my days rebuilding what the village destroyed but remember, they didn't do it overnight. This was in the making for thirteen years. And he spent several more years in the darkness having those words and acts reinforced by the silence of everyone who claims now to care. Five years is not enough to repair eighteen years of abuse and disregard but he is progressing and I believe he will make it. We just need patience."

"So baby steps still." She sighed and closed her clipboard. "Ok. Well, keep an eye on his diet and exercise program. He's within normal limits but he's still a feather weight."

"He always was. He was the only twelve year old I knew who only weighed sixty pounds if he put weights in his clothes."

She blinked. "He did WhAT?" she shouted.

"You wanted a physical from him. He knew he was underweight and that you'd suspend him if he didn't weigh enough so he asked me how much he should weigh for his age and size. I didn't know until later why he was asking. I told him he should weigh sixty pounds or so thinking he was asking me how much he did weigh. He went home and measured out the correct amount of weights to make sure he did weigh sixty pound and spent the night sewing them into his jumpsuit. The next day you had him stand on the scales with all his clothes on and he weighed exactly sixty pounds. I still didn't know what he had done. We held a training spar so I could measure Sai's skill level and Naruto tired a lot faster than I thought he should given his normal energy level. I asked him about it and refused to except the lack of sleep excuses until he told me he'd put weights into his clothes to fool the scales."

"That little Scamp," she declared with a smile for the pure ingenuity of the diversion. "I wonder what he really did weigh."

"Fifty, according to the amount of weights he showed me." She opened her records to the recorded sheet from his physical at twelve.

"For his height at that time he was right. I would have suspended him until he gained weight. As it was I almost did anyway because even sixty was a little too light. I see here I made a note to tell you to get him to eat more. Did I ever tell you that?"

"Hai. I remember thinking you were preaching to the choir since I was already trying but getting him to eat was next to impossible unless it was ramen. But even then I understood why that was."

"Yeah, high energy junk food that is cheap and filling."

"No." She looked at him inquiringly. "It was the only food he could get reliably that would not be spit in, poisoned or pulled from a dumpster somewhere. You need to understand people here treated him worse than they treat the livestock on the farms or their family pets. Only strays had life as hard as Naruto did. But so long as he had money Teuchi would give him ramen. Ayame never spit in it or even thought of doing something to ruin it for him. To them, he was a customer like any other. So ramen became a safe food that he could trust would not make him sick."

"Dear Kami. I knew the village had treated him poorly but this is ridiculous. How in the hell can this ever come right in our lifetimes?"

"With patience and attention to detail and making sure that he never again has to deal with anything remotely touching on his past. I will not be requesting any missions for him until I am sure he will not panic and have a set back. And that won't happen until I feel the villagers can be trusted again."

She nodded and indicated he should go. He left the room and found Naruto looking at a water color with interest. He was studying it carefully and Kakashi could tell from the way his head was angled he was interpreting it with an understanding only another artist would have. He reached out and touched Naruto's arm brining him back to the present.

"Let's go get dinner and do some shopping. Then we can go home and you can paint." Naruto gave a sigh of relief and followed Kakashi from the hospital. Behind him he heard one of the nurses say to someone, "He's so quiet now. I almost wish Jiraiya wasn't dead. I'd like to kick his butt for doing that to him."

They went grocery shopping but Naruto wasn't up to the crowds a restaurant would entail so they ate at home and then Naruto spent the evening painting a beautiful landscape. Kakashi spent the evening reading but he wasn't reading Jiraiya's infamous books anymore. He'd quit reading them when he discovered what the man had done to his student and honestly he found he didn't miss them at all. He felt a lot better now that he knew Naruto could look at the book he was reading with out getting an eye opening experience he wasn't ready for.

Without Danzo on the council there were no more requests for Naruto to run solo suicide missions though his bingo book status remained unchanged. Every single township and country of the Elemental Lands had their own stories of his gentlemanly conduct and prowess on the battlefield. The children who had witnessed his skill and the chivalrous attitude grew up repeating those tales and making sure that their children understood having manners did not mean you had to be weak or cowardly. You could be strong at the same time you had manners.

Naruto never did do another ninja mission for his village though he did reach the point where he could walk down the street without cringing away from the people he met. Some he would never come to trust but then no one trusts everyone. Kakashi lived with him until the day he died of old age asleep in his bed.

It wasn't long before Naruto also died in his bed. He did not take his life and no one took it from him. But everyone figured that when Kakashi had died Naruto had just lost the will to go on. No one ever knew for sure what kind of bond held the two of them but most thought it was the true bond of best friends more than any other kind.

A spiteful few suggested the two had been lovers but Tsunade knew both had suffered too much during their childhoods for that kind of relationship. She knew it was because of the trauma he had gone through, that Kakashi had read Jiraiya's books until he felt the Sennin had betrayed his trust by destroying his student as thoroughly as Minato had tried to destroy Kakashi. But in spite of her denials the rumors persisted. Most took the news as a sign that Naruto had finally managed to find someone he could love who loved him the same way and that, Tsunade knew, was true. Kakashi did love Naruto and Naruto did love him but it was a love that did not need sex to make it complete. It was not the parental love or the love of a sibling for another or even the best friends love so many claimed it had been. Rather it was a unique blending of all the different kinds of love the human heart could feel. It was the love of one hurting heart to another that makes both complete while it heals the wounds of the soul. She did not survive Naruto's death by more than a few years and she appointed Shizune to the chair as her replacement.

The council was fine with that even though they did not think Shizune was the strongest of their available ninja. The truth was she did know how to be the Hokage and would run a tight well ordered ship while she held the chair. Her appointment made the other villages sit up and take notice. All the other Kage knew she was not the strongest ninja the Leaf could bring to the field and they questioned her appointment to the big chair. But Shizune answered them all easily.

"We realize sometimes it is not best to show you have strength of arm. Sometimes it is best to show you have strength of mind and strength of heart. Those two do not weaken while sitting in a chair behind a big desk doing mountains of paperwork. But the strongest today will quickly become the weakest doing the same thing as one who has a strong mind and heart. One little blond haired blue eyed boy showed us all the strongest man in the world is weak if his heart and will and mind are not as strong as his body." Hanging on the wall of her office was a portrait of Naruto titled the Hokage Who Never Was.

After the death of Tsunade, Sakura and Sasuke grew afraid that soon there would be no one left alive who actually knew Naruto's real story. They could already see how things and events were being blown out of proportion as people who didn't really know Naruto or Kakashi tried to remember details of stories they were told of them. They decided the only thing to do was to write the truth in a book that could be published so everyone would be able to read his story for themselves. They spent the years of their retirement writing the true story of Naruto's life as best they could.

Tenten and Lee were their collaborators on the work because Tenten had known Naruto before any of them. She had actually lived in the orphanage with him and seen first hand the terrible way he was treated even then. Her tales were the opening stories of the foundations the book would build on and the betrayal by the Yondaime would not play into the story until the time when his betrayal had been exposed to the villagers. But everyone's memories would play into the story at one point or another. One thing they found as they tried to compile enough stories to cover Naruto's true childhood was that the boy everyone had thought an open book had really been anything but open. Even in their own memories of their life with him they realized there were gaping holes in what they knew absolutely to be true and the fairy tales they had told themselves to justify their refusal to treat him humanely. It turned out Hinata had understood Naruto best next to Lee. Her years as his silent shadow had allowed her to see a lot that was missed by others.

But no one knew Kakashi much at all. Even Gai did not know his story of his childhood in a personal way. He told them in his old and feeble voice that Kakashi had been a child prodigy and as such he had mixed and mingled but never socialized with children twice his age. Children his own age were not mature enough to handle his company and the older children were uncomfortable acting their age around him in case he thought he should behave as they did. It was a difficult and lonely life he led until he finally became a true teenager. They asked all of Kakashi's old comrades but found that as far as any of them knew Kakashi had never had a lover of either sex but that all of them had heard bits and pieces of traumatic abuse being perpetrated against him before he grew into a teen and some recalled attempts to matchmake him had left him pale and shaking and refusing to show up at the appointed place. The Sandaime had finally told them all to stop before they scared the boy away from sex for life.

Then the Yondaime had died and Kakashi had seemed lost and confused for the longest time. Again they tried their hands at matchmaking and again the Sandaime told them to stop. This time he put the power of his office behind the command so they did. They accepted the fact that their friend would remain single until he himself chose to change that. Shizune opened the records office to the fledgling writers and they spent their days digging into Kakashi's past for any hint of a love interest on his part. What they found was a record of abuse that rival Naruto's for being traumatic and gory. Though he was never brought as close to actual physical death during one of his abuse sessions he was brought close enough more than enough times to explain his bond with Naruto.

They found records indicating Yondaime had signed Kakashi up to be a seductress for several espionage missions into dangerous territory, even though he was not in any way shape or form a girl the mission required. They knew that most of those missions included Kakashi being subjected to rape and torture as well as some mutilations though thankfully he never suffered any permanent losses. But nowhere could they find any evidence of past love interest and after the early discoveries neither had any problem understanding why. Though they both knew Kakashi would die before he would want his own history revealed they included it in their book because it would make it clear to their readers that these two men were not romantically involved with each other in a way no one could deny. With such traumatic pasts there was no way either of them would ever be able to form that kind of attachment to anyone.

The book was published a week before Sakura died of old age. Sasuke took a business trip and still being as arrognant as he had ever been in his youth, he failed to take enough skilled guards along with him. He was killed by bandits who thought he was richer than he was. Shino and some of his family had left Konoha, disgraced by their blatant refusal to quit using Naruto as a bug feeder without his knowledge and permission. Some of the clan stayed but most felt Shino was correct in his logical belief that Naruto was Sacrifice for them and that meant he was also Sacrifice for their bugs. Therefore, it was only logical that since all creatures need to eat that he feed those who were hungry and in need of sustenance. Shibi stayed in Konoha and tried to rebuild his clan but with the dishonor of his son he was not able to live long enough to see his goal accomplished.

Shikamaru married Temari and moved to Sand to be with her. He had exactly two children just as he had always planned to and doted on them equally. He named his son after his best friend who had died during a border skirmish with the Akatsuki and his daughter after his old Sensei. He ended his days teaching at the Suna academy for young ninja.

Chouji died not long after Naruto and Kakashi had returned to the Leaf during a border skirmish with the Akatsuki who were hoping to capture Naruto and kill Itachi. They did not succeed. But Itachi did fall ill from that battle and died a few weeks later of his injuries. He took Kisame and Tobi with him though. And Akatsuki never came after Naruto again. They simply had lost too many members of high rank to Konoha in one way or another. Hidan had fallen to Shikamaru and Kuzuku had actually fallen to Naruto himself. Diedara had falen to Kakashi and Sakura had killed Diedara's partner, Sasori.

Ino settled down with a civilian and worked at the sanatorium. Naruto's walk on the dark side had shown her that no matter how inept or clumsy or stupid you thought someone was it didn't mean they didn't have even darker secrets that could destroy them. She had learned, just as Sakura had, that the Naruto she thought she knew was really nothing more than a figment of her imagination and she had never seen the real boy at all.

Hinata married a decent man and had a son whom she insisted on naming Naruto even though it went against tradition. Her immediate family including Neji supported her decision and the name choice was upheld. She followed the birth of the child with a request to be rid of her husband. It was granted because everyone knew she could not stand the man nor he her. She took over her Father's role as head of the clan and council seat holder. She ruled both her clan and her place on the council with a gentle wisdom and decorum that reminded everyone that they were people first and ninja second. After those two titles came everything else they were. Always in her hand, when things degenerated into a near brawl, was the bingo book listing of Naruto with his written description. A quick flash of the image was usually enough to make the lead feuders take their seats again and shut up. But sometimes she would have to actually read the last line of his listing to get their attention. It became a byword phrase in the council chambers. _Just because you have the strength others do not, and do a job others could not do, does not mean you have to leave your manners behind._

Neji married Tenten but they remained childless. Both were firm supporters of Hinata and stood by her side when her little sister was brought home on a stretcher from a mission gone bad. Hanabi had died honorably though and Hinata was proud to claim her remains as family. She and her team had run into a group of Cloud Ninja who upon seeing her decided to capture her and take her back to Cloud for her bloodline. Being out numbered and over powered, the genin team Hanabi was part of had fought valiantly but when it became clear they would lose, Hanabi had overloaded the tenketsu to her eyes and literally blew out her optic nerves thereby ruining her bloodline. The Cloud nins broke off their attack and fled but for Hanabi it was too late. A cascade had begun that shut down her body one tenketsu at a time until she died from the effects. Maybe if they had been closer to Konoha she would have survived but it took them three days to return to the village at their best speed, injured as the team was and she was dead within two days of burning out her eyes.

Kiba also died on a mission gone wrong. Akamaru carried him home to be buried and then crawled off to die as was the custom in the Inuzuka clan. Since he had attained Anbu rank his mission had never been disclosed but Shizune told his Mother and Sister he had completed it and so his death was an honorable one.

The memorial stone held all their names eventually but beside it the Rookie Nine Plus Three had their own stone. It was inscribed with their names, final ranks achieved, date of birth and the date of their deaths. Hatake Kakashi and Uzumaki Naruto, the Legendary Copy-nin and the Gentlemanly Killer. Though the memorial stone was called the Hero's Stone everyone knew the true Hero's had their own stone.

As for Minato's head on the cliffside, it got destroyed somehow. No one ever admitted to doing it but somehow one night while the village slept peacefully in their beds the whole face just seemed to get vaporized. It lay in a mound of dust at the bottom of the cliff when the sun rose the next morning leaving only pale gleaming uncarved rock where it used to be. No one heard a thing or remember seeing anything though everyone felt it was an improvement over the way it had looked before. Everyone wore a smile the day Minato disappeared from their hero's cliff.


End file.
